/r/wow - I would like to request this. IAMA former moderator trying to mitigate an issue. (reddit.com)
redditrequest
793 ups - 0 downs = 793 votes
307 comments submitted at 00:54:42 on Nov 17, 2014 by aphoenix
/r/wow - I would like to request this. IAMA former moderator trying to mitigate an issue. (reddit.com)
redditrequest
793 ups - 0 downs = 793 votes
307 comments submitted at 00:54:42 on Nov 17, 2014 by aphoenix
I'm another moderator of the (former) /r/wow - aphoenix is defintley someone who knew how to run a subreddit. I will gladly vouch for him.
/u/aphoenix is an active and highly respected moderator. His community involvement is second-to-none. Due to /r/wow closing its doors by the decision of one person, nearly 200k people are without their subreddit. It would be in good hands with aphoenix.
I vouch for /u/aphoenix as well. Great mod, and it would be great to have /r/wow in the hands of someone less volatile.
He has my vote.
and my axe!
I second this. /r/wow is such a large community, leaving it to be shut down by one person is a travesty.
I agree; it sucks that the top mod of every subreddit has this kind of power.
Just so you know, the admins don't typically fulfill this kind of request. It's happened before with different subreddits (/r/marijuana and /r/xkcd both went through similar processes).
Keep in mind, from the sidebar,
>While the input of the community is helpful, redditrequest is not a popularity contest.
I think it would be wise for you guys to make a new subreddit and relocate there for the time being (or forever, if the sole moderator doesn't step down), because the admins don't really remove active mods.
Edit: ~~/r/WoW~~ /r/realwow. Whatever you guys need. I'll step down from /r/WoW as soon as /u/aphoenix wants. I just don't think you'll have any luck getting /r/wow back.
Yeah, I vouch for him too.
Also providing my vote of confidence for /u/aphoenix.
/u/aphoenix would be a good moderator for /r/wow. If this does not work, /r/worldofwarcraft is back up and running. We can migrate there.
so what you are suggesting is a that /u/aphoenix rise out of the ashes to build a new life for the subreddit?? His name would be most appropriate.
/u/aphoenix has been the light in a dark subreddit this past week. He communicates with reason and uses logic. I highly suggest ownership be transferred to him so we can go back to normal and the subreddit can grow even further.
I'm with you on this one. /u/aphoenix would be best fit for the new top moderator. Hopefully the reddit admins will be able to intervene on this issue.
200,000+ subscribers shouldn't have to migrate because of one moderator's ragequit. Put /u/aphoenix in, bring things back to normal.
I will vouch for /u/aphoenix as well. The whole debacle over shutting down the subreddit is a shame, i'd like to see the subreddit not go to waste.
signed!
Throwing in my character reference for /u/aphoenix. He has always been a conscientious moderator with a level head.
Agreed.
I vouch for /u/aphoenix
heres my vote to remove Nitesmoke as mod of /r/wow.
Aphoenix is handling it all extremely well. I mean he isn't playing the new expansion to field everyones questions and complaints over yesterdays drama. He's proven his dedication and he has my vote!
/u/aphoenix has always been super kind and awesome to me. He seems to be that way with everyone. /salute
/u/aphoenix is amazing, please give him this!
/u/nitesmoke http://imgur.com/Wqa0Tmz
Agreed.
I vouch to remove /u/nitesmoke and replace him with /u/aphoenix as well.
/u/aphoenix has been working diligently over the last 24 hours to maintain some sense of understanding in /r/wow.
He would be the best man for the job.
Let this be known as the launch day for Reddit 5.4: Siege of /r/wow. /u/Aphoenix for warchief!
Important note:
/r/wow had official fansite status from Blizzard. CM's were very active on the sub.
\~200,000 user strong officially recognized forum should not be killed by one person's emotions. It damages reddit's credibility to allow this.
/u/nitesmoke has absolutely lost his mind. He removed every mod except himself, set the sub to private, and gave up on being rational.
It is absolutely terrible that such a community is now faced with fragmentation and this sort of drama.
https://twitter.com/nitesmoke he also deleted his twitter account
Has he listed any reasons? All I saw was his tweet explaining it'd be set to private for as long as he couldn't log into WoW.
As far as I can tell, no.
At first, he said he was going to do exactly that, set the sub to private until he could log in.
Today, there was a stickied post by another mod about that not happening and everything going back to normal.
People kept on /u/nitesmoke's case about it, saying it was bad mod etiquette, that he should apologize or worse, resign as mod. It was pretty busy for him, especially on reddit and twitter.
/u/nitesmoke responded by removing every mod, closing the sub, deleting comments for days, and beginning to burn his internet presence, starting with twitter.
/r/wow mods are currently trying to petition admins to reclaim control.
It is a classic emotional trainwreck by someone not qualified to have any semblance of power.
edit: the /r/wow message has been changed from "please visit one of the fine new subreddits" to "The World of Warcraft subreddit has been shut down due to doxxing."
Closing a sub of more than 200,000 people because people cross referenced your accounts is not the correct move.
Thanks for the reply friend.
Hope the WoW players get their sub back. It seems like a massive trainwreck indeed.
I believe admins have stepped in and helped out for lesser causes, so I'm sure it'll all resolve itself soon enough.
For clarification, he actually did set the sub to private when he couldn't log in. It was briefly brought back on for this to happen:
>Today, there was a stickied post by another mod about that not happening and everything going back to normal.
The mod who posted that thread wasn't /u/nitesmoke, which leads me to believe it was the other mod who set the sub to public again (I don't know for certain whether that's possible, but I assume it is).
It isn't. They wanted to and had to sit there helpless.
Wait are you the real Richard Lewis?
Are we going to possibly see an article about this Richard?
it is late here but I will absolutely draw attention to this tomorrow and anyone involved or affected is welcome to contact me through the PM system on here.
> It is a classic emotional trainwreck by someone not qualified to have any semblance of power.
He was fine up until this point, frankly. I think there's a lot more going on than the simple inability to play World of Warcraft.
Does that mean it could be handled better? Yes. Does it mean he's not a good mod right now? Yes. Does it mean he was never a good mod? No.
The future does not simply erase the past just because you do not like it.
I'm sure he's been a fine mod for the most part, but if he's unable to handle that sort of situation without resorting to nukes from orbit, he should not have been made mod (or should not have been a mod at the time).
You don't give someone access to The Button and then when the bombs are dropping go "well he was fine up until now"
>I think there's a lot more going on than the simple inability to play World of Warcraft.
There is. Well, there MIGHT be.
What sucks even more is it's an official Blizzard fansite. We saw what happened when WoWWiki split to Wowpedia. It was awesome having Blizzard staff part of that community. I hope this won't cause us to lsoe them.
Fragmentation kills communities.
I'm sure WoW itself will be just fine, and the communities will be just fine (mostly), but it's still splitting up likeminded people into smaller groups unnecessarily.
He wrote that the reason was doxxing.
Wasn't originally what was there. Originally it was a message for people to "visit one of the fine new subs"
It may very well be true. It may be an excuse. He claimed to have been doxxed before, so acting like he did doesn't make sense. It also doesn't make sense to disable an entire sub because of HIS personal issue.
He didn't just quit or try to delete his own presence because of a doxx.
He meticulously deleted every mod so nobody could reverse his decision, then followed up on what he SAID he was going to several days ago.
from what I saw, he was doxxed and recieved death threats, both of which would be pretty good reason to freak out imo.
Any evidence to suggest he was doxxed?
He had links to his OKC profile, and a few other profiles, listed publicly on his twitter, so if he is claiming people posted that information he is straight up full of shit.
I haven't seen anything posted except links to his OKC, which as I mentioned he had linked on his twitter anyway before he deleted it.
well I saw links to his okc profile, as well as people talking about his adress (or an adress, the shutdown and multiple people mentioning the same place could have been a coincidence)
no links because well... obvious reasons.
He was doxxed in the past, he said on twitter to me last night (He used to mod /r/diablo, but was removed because he didn't do anything) "what are they going to do doxx me again?
I did see that tweet! Pretty arrogant.
I'm not going to defend anyone who did that to him, if it happened (which it probably did, death threats are amazingly common for any reason these days) but it doesn't feel like that sort of "freak out". The message redirecting people to other subs doesn't read like that.
If that's what happened, then I feel for the guy, but deleting the mods, closing everything down, and then starting to just delete everything isn't what a person in that situation does.
Where did you see that he was being doxxed and receiving threats?
I saw them on the /new section of the subreddit minutes to seconds before it was deleted. Also some were on halfchan, but the mods got rid of them fast.
He said he would set it to private if he couldn't log in, he ended up doing so yesterday/last night, but ended up restoring it when loads of people gave him shit for it.
He then did a mass censorship job about the shutdown within the subreddit.
Finally people completely pissed as his little tantrum start attacking him personally, including allegedly posting his online dating profile.
End result is he goes completely off the deep end, removes every other mod, deletes his twitter (where he was raging/taunting the community), and sets it to private.
This is a big deal, the subreddit has over 200k users, has actual interaction and recognition from Blizzard itself including Blizzard staff posting directly there at times. There is no reason to destroy this for literally hundreds of thousands of people over the temper tantrums of one person.
Something about Richard Lewis drove him to madness but I don't know.
The drama's real, man. Write an article about it!
Seriously...
/r/wow had official fansite status from Blizzard. CM's were very active on the sub, and the community was terrific.
/u/nitesmoke decided to throw an epic shitfit and act like a complete child and now almost a quarter million people are without their subreddit.
My vote is for /u/aphoenix.
>/r/wow had official fansite status from Blizzard. CM's were very active on the sub, and the community was terrific.
This is the worst part of everything. It makes me so sad that this has happened over not being able to play WoW for 3 days. Needs to grow up a bit I think.
The new message he posted about why it was closed is just silly. All his accounts are under the same name. It's hardly "doxxing" when you can google his username and find out everything about them. Does he think his worthless dating profile is worth closing a community over? I'd never even heard of this guy since this week, and I've used the /r/wow subreddit for well over 2 years.
Hey guys. I did not expect to see 103 messages that mostly say "I will vouch that aphoenix is a good person".
That really helped my day out.
Have another!
and another!
I think you are pretty okay, I guess.
I feel the same way. Usually pretty "meh" with a side order of "ho hum".
In all seriousness, I wish you the best of luck with getting the Sub, or at least figuring out some way to fix it. /r/wow is the only subreddit I go to daily, and it would be nice to have some form of sane mod.
http://i.imgur.com/VmjEWY7.gif
lmfao
I will hands down attest to the fact that /u/aphoenix will guide this community in the right direction.
I agree with deviouskat89 that aphoenix has been doing great work with the subreddit and that action needs to be taken for the /r/wow community. The subreddit is being used as a tool for a maniacal moderator and is now unavailable for the thousands who use it. Would definitely appreciate help from any of the community management admins.
Summoning more than three users at once cancels the summons.
> /u/Sporkicide /u/liltrixxy /u/pinwale
/u/Dacvak /u/cupcake1713 /u/krispykrackers
Any of the community managers help would be greatly appreciated.
/u/5days
I would like to add that /r/wow appears to be inactive and appears to have no moderators.
Typing that out actually made a small tear come to my eye.
You should be able to get it back if there are no moderators. That fits the rules here.
There is a moderator. And he's active on Reddit. But you already know that.
Did nitesmoke remove himself too or something? If he's still a mod there the admins most likely won't give you the sub.
People seem to think he did because /r/wow doesn't show up on his user page, but no private subreddits do. That'd defeat the purpose of them being private.
Ya, exactly.
Hopefully we get it back! Power trip gone badddd
Please gives back /r/wow !
I add my vote for aphoenix to take control of the sub
Same here, I will throw my vote to this as well.
I can't speak for or against aphoenix but we need a new moderator, fast.
Good luck. Would be nice to have /r/wow back.
The subreddit was a great community, but torn to pieces by the childish head mod. /u/aphoenix should take control.
I'd say yes because the community is for him and he seems like a cool dude.
i vouch for /u/aphoenix as well
It is unfortunately a sad situation, and it has been a sad experience to follow.
It feels like /u/apoenix is genuinely trying to save a reddit that was enjoyed by a lot of people and it feels like /r/wow would be in good hands with him.
One more vote for /u/aphoenix.
Please, can't let one person ruin a community of thousands.
I'm all for it, aphoenix deserves it.
I have not been a member of reddit long but I have also seen him on /wow several times and I think we would be in good hands.
I am all for /u/aphoenix taking over the subreddit. I don't want a single person to ruin a community of people in the hundreds of thousands.
I like this idea. +1 for /u/aphoenix.
Yes. Good plan.
Please end this whole mess.
I vouch for aphoenix! Please do allow the madness to stop!
What sort of douchebag closes an entire subreddit just because he can't log in WoW?
I vote for /u/aphoenix to take control of /r/wow. He was one of, if not the best mod we had
There are ~196,740 people without use of their sub during a time where it can be very useful (i.e. the launch of a new expansion.)
Please let him handle the subreddit, +1 for /u/aphoenix
I vote yes 'cause /u/apheonix is a cool guy and the main mod of /r/wow has gone off the deep-end.
I vote for /u/aphoenix ... because God knows we can't get worse than /u/nitesmoke...
...really hoping that squalling manchild isn't deleting the sub, that would seriously get folks pissed-off against him.
/u/aphoenix has done more for /r/wow than the original creator (who, in a fit of baby drama, tossed it completely) /u/nitesmoke ever did. This is deserved.
Castin' mah ballot for /u/aphoenix
+1 vote for /u/aphoenix
Adding my vote for this change to happen.
i vote for /u/aphoenix
+1 for /u/aphoenix I rarely post (ever?) but read all the time. He's a great asset to the community and is full of that stuff we call common sense. I hope he gets control of the sub.
/r/WoW, is a helpful subreddit for WoW players, would be a shame to see it stuck as private. /u/aphoenix would be a great choice to take over it!
Paging /u/Sporkicide!
I would also like to vouch for /u/aphoenix .
/u/nitesmoke doesn't deserve to be in control of any community based forum. Give it to /u/aphoenix
Yes for the love of holy shits give it to aphoenix and get rid of that manchild in charge as of now.
I will throw my vote into the bunch for /u/aphoenix to get control of the /r/wow subreddit.
Another vote for /u/aphoenix.
I hope reddit will allow us to restore this awesome community. Just because one person gets mad that they can't login to the game doesn't justify this. The subreddit had what... 190,000 subscribers or something? Blizzard was even involved with it. aphoenix is an experienced mod, let him take over.
All hail /u/aphoenix
Good guy, please let him save our sub.
We want /wow back, remove u/nitesmoke
+1 WoW fans need a subreddit and right now 200,000 passionate reddit users are being denied it
/u/apheonix is a standup guy. it would be a shame to lose /r/wow to this bullshit. hand over those reins.
/u/aphoenix is a wonderful moderator and he should be the one to take over /r/wow since the original mod decided to be a dick and made the subreddit private. I vouch for him
I don't care who takes over r/wow, as long as it's not fucking u/nitesmoke anymore. He's acting like a petulant child, and nothing more. Stamping his feet and throwing a temper tantrum and holding his breath till he gets his way because he doesn't like what's happening around him.
I don't even have words rude enough for the kind of bastard he is.
/u/aphoenix is the only way to go, rather than watching the sub I've been apart of for a long time go down in flames.
Handing control to /u/aphoenix is the right thing to do.
signed
Got my vote.
Then again, just want /r/wow back again.
I'd throw my hat in the ring, with you. It'd be nice to have a subreddit that's stupid bullshit (like what happened on Friday) free, you know?
Seriously, what has happened? This sucks!
Nightsmoke threw a hissy fit and closed down the subreddit.
He acted like a spoiled child, threw a tantrum because he didn't get his cookie right away even though nobody else was getting cookies either, and chased everyone out of the playroom so he could pout and whine by himself.
The head of the subreddit threw a hissy fit because the Warlords launch was less than optimal in terms of server issues and queues. The expansion is amazing but a huge amount of people have been stuck in 10 hour queues to get into the game.
He decided that it would be most logical to private the subreddit until he got into the game, which caused a big uproar and general anger towards him. Even Zarhym, one of the Blizzard mods has been tweeting about it.
The guy just threw a hissy fit and felt super entitled.
I vote for /u/aphoenix. After the subreddit went down the first time he did his best to apologise to the people as professionally as possible. He's a very active and proficient moderator, and I definitely think that he should have control of the subreddit.
Please. One man acting like a complete child shouldn't be enough to shut down a huge subreddit. Or any subreddit for that matter.
+1 for /u/aphoenix !
/u/nitesmoke is attempting to destroy one of the biggest WoW communities just because he is butthurt about server issues. Giving a vote for /u/aphoenix.
I vote for /u/aphoenix as well! Whenever I see him posting he's always polite and doesn't partake in the drama, also very level headed and professional.
Tossing in my vote for /u/aphoenix.
Though it was dumb that he shut it down, doing something like this sets a precedent that the admins most likely don't want to do. It's an unfortunate situation but unless the mod breaks one of reddits rules, the admins won't do anything about it. That's not to say it doesn't hurt to try though.
/u/aphoenix has been a long-time member of the sub and is respected by many.
He approaches situations with logic and finesse.
+1 for /u/aphoenix
/u/aphoenix is a really awesome dude.
+1 vote for /u/aphoenix.
+1 for /u/aphoenix
/u/apheonix has my vote
HAND IT OVER
What these guys said. Give it aphoenix!
I agree. /u/aphoenix should take control of /r/wow.
Absolutely ridiculous you'd think he'd have some form of maturity and either take a quieter role or just apologies not throw this back in everybody's face even thought we're the ones who have done absolutely nothing wrong, cannot log in to the worlds biggest MMO on release day? better screw over the other 200k subs that use the sub as a means of pastime during queues.
I agree
I vouch for /u/aphoenix!
I concur with this. Please allow him to take over /r/wow!
Definitely backing this. /u/aphoenix is a very active and as you can see by the responses in this very thread, a respected moderator by the /r/wow community, and I have no doubt that he would do a great job taking over this subreddit.
Somebody who is rational would be a great re-addition to the community and it would be fantastic to see /r/wow back with aphoenix.
Please, reddit!
Got my vote
I hope this works.
I'll be honest, I'm a long time lurker of r/wow, never having anything quality to post there. That said, even I think that what /u/aphoenix would be a good moderator for the r/wow subreddit. He has my vote!
EDIT: My reason for /u/apheonix is due to the maturity in which he has shown during this situation. He never once showed any disrespect towards the old moderator, and kept a cool head in times of crisis.
I VOUCH FOR /u/aphoenix FOR THE HORDE!!!!
/u/aphoenix has my vote!
As someone who has been a subscriber to WoW for nearly a decade, and a subscriber to /r/wow, one of the few communities I've stuck with over the years, I vouch for aphoenix. He's a cool, fair, and most importantly, stable person who can remain collected during a time in this games cycle that demands those qualities. Please strongly consider his request.
+1 vote for /u/aphoenix I creep this sub more than anything on reddit. If it goes I wouldn't know what to do on the toilet anymore!
On a serious note this subreddit has made my life in wow way better and has offered me tons of tips and tricks. To see this sub lost because of 1 person would be a shame.
Considering the subreddit was recognized by Blizzard. It would put a bad mark on Reddit to leave this subreddit closed down, and would alienate many Reddit users.
+1
The sub should belong to /u/aphoenix
vouching for /u/aphoenix, would love to have /r/wow back.
aphoenix is definitely worthy of taking the mantle! +1!
I approve this message. Give it to the good guy.
I vote for this person.
"It was /u/aphoenix that held /r/wow together during this madness. It was you that protected it's honor. If he leads, I will follow." Let /u/aphoenix be the new warchief.
If the reason was that the mod was doxxed then he should have removed himself and appointed another mod in his place. Not shut everyone out. The person who shut it down must be replaced.
If /u/aphoenix is the best bet here, as everyone else seems to feel, then I'll toss my vouch in for them as well. /r/wow needs someone who's levelheaded, and judging from phoenix's commenting history (I quickly checked, who wouldn't?), they seem fit for the task.
He's got my vote.
/u/aphoenix knows how to run a subreddit. Stand up guy, 10/10 would give a nasty reach-around to.
Agreed! Reddit admins... Wow is the biggest game in the world you can't let one person destroy an entire subreddit! You can't let /r/wow/ die!
+1 vote from me as well for aphoenix
The drama that /u/nitesmoke has caused in the last few days is completely unacceptable and unfair to the people who spent countless hundreds of hours making /r/wow the community it is today. He should not be allowed to simply undo all of this work due to his personal issues.
Time and again he has proven unwilling to cooperate with his moderation team, he shows no desire to be in control of our community any more and yet he is unwilling to transfer ownership of the subreddit to one of the moderators who want to keep /r/wow going strong.
There are over 180,000 people who read and enjoy /r/wow and it has been declared the "official" subreddit by the game's developers, it is one of the largest gaming subreddits on Reddit. It is a community that is significantly larger than /u/nightsmoke and it is appalling that he thinks that it is okay for him to simply undo years worth of work and dedication at the hands of the moderation team and our community in a matter of seconds.
Several large gaming news outlets including Kotaku, Polygon and Yahoo have reported on this event and it paints all of us in an unfairly bad light, it also shows the strong reaction the community has had to this taken.
Even Blizzard's Senior Community Representative, Zarhym, has spoken out against what has happened to /r/wow on Twitter. To quote:
> @nitesmoke I've always appreciated what you've done, but r/WoW shouldn't be a hostage. It should always be there for the community.
> @nitesmoke This frustration is fair, but maybe ownership of a subreddit should rest with someone who wouldn't shut it down over frustration.
>A lot is going on post Warlords launch & it's a shame the community has lost r/WoW. Hoping another subreddit fills the void & then some.
/u/nitesmoke should never have been in a position of power over 180k people to begin with, he has demonstrated in the last few days that he does not have the mental stability to run a subreddit of /r/wow's scale. /u/aphoenix on the other hand has proven several times that he is a capable and competent moderator and as a long-time subscriber and contributor to /r/wow I would be more than happy to see the subreddit in his hands.
I'd also like to throw in my recommendation. I once saw /u/aphoenix pull a group of orphans out of a burning bus. Then there was the time I got shot during a robbery attempt and he flew around the globe, spinning time backwards so he could catch the robber in the act and give him a swift karate chop to the neck, thus saving my life.
10/10 would mod him
yeah this won't be happening. read the sidebar.
As near as I can tell, there are no moderators for this subreddit anymore.
Have you forever tagged as "Good Guy, King of /r/WoW"
I was under the impression that the top mod was still there. If not, then I guess there is nothing stopping you
Even when approved, /r/Redditrequest sends a message to the current mods of the subreddit and they have 3 days to respond. Nitesmoke can easily be a baby about this.